Chapter 31

“Mountain Guardian Jade Slip?!” Bai Shuo exclaimed in shock. As a disciple of the Piaomiao Sect’s outer sect, she wasn’t supposed to know about this jade slip. However, she had an old turtle companion, the oldest and most knowledgeable creature on Piaomiao Island, who loved to chat with her over a drink under the trees in the herb garden. Thus, Bai Shuo was well aware of the secrets of Piaomiao Island.

But Piaomiao wasn’t a major sect of the Immortal Clan. The Mountain Guardian Jade Slip, just struck by Fan Yue’s silver chain, now had only a fraction of its power left, barely protecting the soon-to-dissipate Bodhi Tree Heart.

“Senior Sister!”

Chong Zhao’s expression changed as he prepared to attack.

The Evil Bodhi used a third of his strength to pinch Er Yun’s neck and say, “Stay back, or even if I die, I’ll take her with me. Leave Fire Ice Island immediately, or I’ll kill her!”

Chong Zhao was in a dilemma. If it weren’t for Fan Yue’s demon blood infusing the Evil Bodhi’s body, the combined strength of the entire Piaomiao Island wouldn’t stand a chance. If they let this opportunity slip, it would be nearly impossible to kill the Evil Bodhi once he revived.

Fan Yue, with no regard for the Immortal Clan, snorted coldly and swung his silver chain at the Evil Bodhi, but Chong Zhao blocked it.

“Whoever you are, my senior sister is in the hands of this evil spirit. Please do not act recklessly.”

Fan Yue snorted disdainfully, looking at Chong Zhao as if he were an ant, “Stupid.”

“Junior Brother! Don’t worry about me!” Er Yun, initially bewildered, felt an ambition to die together with the evil spirit after seeing Chong Zhao act for her.

Angrily glaring at the Evil Bodhi, her eyes reddened, “You killed my father, slaughtered so many of my fellow disciples, and drained the spiritual energy of the East Sea. Today, you won’t escape alive!” She lifted her head and said, “Evil Bodhi, we of the Piaomiao Sect are not afraid of death. Kill me if you dare!”

As Er Yun lifted her head, her pale neck was cut by the Evil Bodhi’s sharp wooden spike, drawing a line of blood. Surprisingly, the Evil Bodhi did not get angry but instead withdrew his hand slightly from her neck.

Fan Yue, indifferent to the life of a mere Immortal Clan disciple, continued to wield his silver chain.

With a “clang,” Chong Zhao once again blocked him with his immortal sword.

“Haoyue Palace Lord!”

Chong Zhao refused to back down an inch. Finally, impatience flickered in Fan Yue’s eyes as he directed the silver chain at Chong Zhao.

Seeing that the two were about to fight, Bai Shuo hurriedly stepped between them, pointing at the Evil Bodhi and saying, “Stop, stop, stop! What are you doing? You let this evil spirit’s words drive you mad. Senior Sister is right; her life is less important than all the living beings of the East Sea!”

“Ah Shuo…” Chong Zhao called her helplessly.

Bai Shuo shouted righteously, while Er Yun’s face darkened, “Bai Shuo! I knew you had bad intentions… Don’t be wishful thinking, even if I die, you are not worthy of Junior Brother Chong Zhao!”

Er Yun, holding onto her dignity as an immortal disciple for half her life, threw caution to the wind and argued directly with Bai Shuo.

“Senior Sister Er Yun, don’t worry, you won’t die. The Evil Bodhi won’t harm you.” Bai Shuo turned to look at Er Yun and said, “Even if he wipes out Piaomiao Sect and drains the East Sea’s spiritual energy, he won’t harm you.”

Her words left everyone puzzled, and Er Yun looked at her in stunned disbelief, her face full of confusion and irritation, “Bai Shuo, you black-hearted person, what nonsense are you spouting?”

“Am I right?”

Bai Shuo’s gaze fell on the Evil Bodhi, and she sighed softly, “Master Songhe.”

The Evil Bodhi’s hand, gripping Er Yun’s neck, froze as he abruptly looked up.

The water cave fell silent, with Chong Zhao and Er Yun both in shock. Only Fan Yue seemed unsurprised, hearing Bai Shuo’s words by the coast.

“He wants to devour me, which is his weakness… But that’s not his only weakness.”

“What else?”

“His identity, perhaps… he might not be a true Bodhi Tree.”

This last statement even made Fan Yue raise an eyebrow.

“Ah Shuo, what did you call him?”

Chong Zhao’s voice was unusually dry in the water cave.

“Are you crazy, Bai Shuo?! How could this evil spirit be my father?!” Bai Shuo’s words enraged Er Yun even more than losing Chong Zhao.

She trembled with anger, “My father exhausted his immortal energy to seal this evil spirit three years ago and died because of it! How dare you insult his memory!”

“Senior Sister Er Yun, don’t you find it strange? The Evil Bodhi is inhuman, and the senior brothers who entered the island were drained of their immortal energy and died. He showed no mercy to me or Ah Zhao either. Without the Haoyue Palace Lord, we would have been sacrifices for his ascension. But why, from the moment we entered the island, have you only suffered minor injuries?”

Er Yun was taken aback, recalling how the Evil Bodhi had avoided her when she offered her neck to the Bodhi tree spike. Her face changed, but she still shook her head, unwilling to look at the silent Evil Bodhi beside her, “Impossible, you’re lying, I… I don’t believe it…”

Chong Zhao suddenly spoke, looking at the Evil Bodhi, “The Mountain Guardian Jade Slip is our Piaomiao Sect’s spiritual artifact. Senior sister and I received the inheritance from Uncle Master today, and only then did we know how to use it. You…” Chong Zhao’s voice was dry, but he continued the question in his heart: “…Why can you use it?”

Immortal sect treasures have their own inheritances, especially those containing the spirits of all the predecessors of Piaomiao Island. In their panic, they had overlooked this crucial point.

Faced with Chong Zhao’s question, the Evil Bodhi remained silent. Er Yun stared at the masked figure beside her, trembling. Suddenly, she turned to Chong Zhao, her eyes red.

“Chong Zhao, don’t forget how my father died. If he hadn’t given you his inner core and immortal energy before he died, how could you have become immortal in three years? He is an evil spirit, not my father! My father died three years ago!”

Chong Zhao’s hand holding the immortal sword paused, unable to question further. His immortal path was entirely granted by Piaomiao Island and Master Songhe. Although he never doubted Bai Shuo, he couldn’t hastily tarnish Songhe’s lifetime reputation. However…

“Senior Sister, the Jingtian Formation is destroyed.”

Er Yun froze, recalling Master Songfeng’s parting words.

“Yun’er, the Jingtian Formation is our Piaomiao Sect’s protective formation. Only someone who knows its core could destroy it. That evil spirit might have already infiltrated our inner sect. Trust no one but yourself.”

If martial uncle was wrong and the evil being wasn’t an infiltrator but originally from Piaomiao Sect…?

“I have always found it strange that the Bodhi Tree, though it has fallen to the lower realms, was once a divine tree in the god realm for tens of thousands of years. How could it fall into the demonic path and become an evil spirit? It turns out it’s because of human nature,” Fan Yue said calmly.

“Three years ago, you devoured the Bodhi Tree and took its divine soul, didn’t you?”

Fan Yue’s words were decisive, and the three of them turned to look at the silent Evil Bodhi.

The Evil Bodhi finally spoke, but it wasn’t in that eerie, hoarse voice; instead, it carried a hint of weariness and familiarity.

“Three years ago, I should never have been soft-hearted and let you stay on Piaomiao Island.”

The Evil Bodhi stared at Bai Shuo, the mask on his face disappearing, revealing the face of the long-deceased Master Songhe.

“Father…”

“Master…”

Chong Zhao and Er Yun looked at the familiar face in front of them, one bewildered, the other shocked. Even though Bai Shuo had already exposed the truth, when the Evil Bodhi really took off his mask, their hearts were still incredibly shaken.

The evil spirit that almost destroyed Piaomiao Island was actually Songhe, the protector of the East Sea for a millennium and the head of an immortal sect! How could this be possible?

“I’ve already severed my immortal veins. Even Songfeng didn’t discover it back then. How did you guess my identity?”

If Bai Shuo hadn’t made a deal with Fan Yue and exposed his identity in front of everyone, his plans wouldn’t have failed. After years of planning, Songhe’s efforts were undone by a mere half-immortal. He really wanted to know.

“Because of a single sentence and a secret.”

“What sentence?”

“The first time you transformed into Ah Zhao and tricked me into offering my spiritual blood, you told me that years ago on the island, I once said I wanted to live and die with you. Only the real Ah Zhao would know that, so how did the Evil Bodhi know? According to the Heavenly Dao, only those with intertwined spiritual veins who lay the foundation for others can glimpse their past. The only person in this world who could know Ah Zhao’s deepest secrets is Master Songhe, who laid the foundation for Ah Zhao three years ago.”

“And the secret?”

“The secret of my spiritual blood. I know myself very well: first, I’m afraid of death; second, I’m afraid of death; and third, I’m still afraid of death. I’m just a half-immortal with no skills to protect myself. If everyone in the three realms knew my blood was like first-grade spiritual medicine, let alone the demon realm, even the great cultivators of the immortal realm might quietly refine me. So, I try to live as inconspicuously as possible, terrified that this secret will get out. Since leaving the mortal realm and stepping into the immortal path, the only time I revealed my spiritual blood was to save someone on Fire Ice Island. And that person was you, Master Songhe.”

“So I started to reconsider everything that happened tonight. My visit to Fire Ice Island to gather spiritual herbs was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but the white tiger in the forest and the illusion of Ah Zhao were prepared long in advance. When the Haoyue Palace Lord told me this place had long been a dead island, I guessed that even the treasure-seeking book in the library was a setup by you. Knowing my love for studying herb and my habit of sneaking into the library, you knew I’d find it and come to this island, becoming a sacrifice for your ascension.”

Bai Shuo finally finished, exhaling a breath with some helplessness, “You went to such lengths for a small half-immortal like me. Truly, I must commend you, Master Songhe.”

The water cave fell into a profound silence, with Er Yun still unable to believe everything in front of her.

“Father, is what she said true? Did you kill our fellow disciples? Did you become the Evil Bodhi and do all this? Why? Why did you do this?!”

“For what? For Piaomiao Island!”

Evil Bodhi—no, Songhe—suddenly spoke.

“Piaomiao Island was once one of the six sects of the Immortal Realm a few centuries ago. However, three hundred years ago, when the god realm opened and the Phoenix Clan rose to power, the spiritual veins of the East Sea all fell under the control of the Wutong Phoenix Clan. Apart from this main island, Piaomiao Island had no other spiritual grounds for cultivation. How could one island support an entire sect? Over the past hundred years, our Piaomiao Island has gradually declined, with no one able to reach the peak of the Supreme Lord, and we’ve fallen to the bottom tier of the Immortal Realm. Ten years ago, I foresaw my impending tribulation. If I couldn’t pass the thunder tribulation, I would perish and lose any chance of glimpsing into Godhood. I was in despair…”

“But then, heavenly fire fell into the East Sea, burning all life. When I investigated, I found that this heavenly fire was actually a piece of Bodhi Wood filled with divine energy. If I could refine it, I could ascend to godhood in a single step, restoring Piaomiao Island’s glory and making it rise in the three realms!”

“An ant trying to shake a tree. A mere lower lord of the Immortal Realm, daring to dream of refining a divine wood,” Fan Yue scoffed, disgusted that a piece of his divine wood fragment had been tainted by Songhe.

“That’s right, I failed.” Songhe gave a bitter smile but was not resigned.

“But Heaven did not abandon Piaomiao Island. Just as I was on the brink of death after failing to refine the divine wood, I encountered two mortals.”

Songhe’s gaze fell on Bai Shuo.

“One of them had blood that not only healed me but also helped me suppress the unformed divine soul of the Bodhi Wood.”

Bai Shuo was stunned, pointing to herself.

What? !

It turns out that everything today was caused by her mistake from three years ago.

My God, it’s really an injustice!